The invention relates to an autonomous radio timepiece. More specifically, the invention relates to an autonomous radio timepiece having a receiver demodulator, a time equalizing processor for the correction of the prevailing time indication provided by a time display mechanism in case of a deviation from the actual time information received by radio transmission, an interrupting contact for the initiation of the time equalization following an interruption of the time indication, a time keeping circuit and an indexing device for the time indication.
An autonomous radio timepiece is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,344 and in particular, the determination of the position of the time display mechanism for comparison with the instantaneous time information received by radio transmission is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4, 645,357. In the case of a radio timepiece of this generic type marketed by the present applicant, the power supply (i.e., a dry battery) is connected by means of a power supply switch. Actual practice has shown that there is a strong need on the side of consumers to actuate this power switch during the operation of the radio timepiece in order to briefly interrupt operation and thus create a divergence between the instantaneous time indication provided by the time display mechanism and the actual time information, and then to trigger the internal, automatically controlled indication comparison process by reactuating the supply. Such a practice is desirable either for personal satisfaction that the time display resulting from the preceding autonomous operating phase actually corresponded to the instantaneous time information received by radio transmission, or merely to demonstrate the operating behavior of such a radio timepiece. However, any interruption of the operation by disconnecting the power supply is disadvantageous because upon reactuation, the control circuit of the radio receiver and the internal processor regulation must enter their stationary operating states, whereby brief interruptions of the power supply may well lead to the self-blocking of the processor due to the irregular progress of the initiation process.
In view of these conditions, it is an object of the present invention to make interruptions of the operation of a radio timepiece possible for the above mentioned or other reasons, without causing extended run-in intervals or functional problems.